MOUNT VERNON – A little over a week ago, Margy Arck got a phone call.

As the principal at Dan Emmett Elementary, she often receives calls about donations being made to the school. They’re lucky, she says, that churches and organizations feel compelled to reach out as often as they do. All of her school’s 297 students qualify for free and reduced lunches, and many kids depend on food donations for proper nutrition over weekends or breaks.

But this call was different. It was from an anonymous donor, an individual who said she and her husband weren’t asking for anything this Christmas, and instead wished to give back to the school in any way possible. She simply asked Arck what her students needed, and pledged she would send it their way.

“It was amazing,” Arck said Monday at the Mount Vernon Board of Education meeting, which was held at her school. “I don’t know how we were blessed to be the school, but we were. It’s amazing.”

Arck told the donor that her students needed sweatpants and shoes (or boots) to stay warm in the winter months. She had only asked for “a few sweatpants,” however, and was shocked last Thursday when boxes of Gap apparel showed up at the school’s doorstep. The shoes are on the way, the donor told her, although pairs of Columbia boots and Adidas sneakers have already been dropped off.

In total, $1,035 of sweatpants and shoes were donated. Arck, who has been principal for 15 years, said that she had not spoke with the anonymous donor before. She is not sure if the donor has any connections to the school.

What Arck does know is that the donor’s generosity will positively impact the lives of many of her students.

Arck and third grade teacher Julie Fowler have seen the tangible, emotional effects of giving within their school. The school’s faculty and surrounding community will often pitch in to help the local youngsters in need, especially during the winter months.

Teachers will bring in spare sweatpants, sweatshirts or blankets for students who need them. Individuals will occasionally donate coats, which are greatly appreciated by the students who wouldn’t have them otherwise.

Fowler remembers one student who wore a donated sweatshirt for a week straight. She eventually had to wash it one day at school so he could continue wearing it.

Teachers will sometimes bring blankets in for students who don’t have them at home, and will buy tennis shoes for students who can’t afford them (or have worn holes in the ones they already have).

Before holiday break, the school will distribute ‘Christmas bags,’ which are meal packages donated by a local church that students can take home with them over break. The pre-packaged meals help at-risk students stay fed when they are away from school for long periods of time. This year, 120 meal bags will be distributed.

Fowler and Arck said that both the students and their families appreciate the donations, and the reaction to such news is often emotional.

“They hug you, they love you,” Arck said of the students. “They really do, they love it.”

“It’s new,” Fowler added, “and they don’t always get ‘new.’”

The Gap sweatpants the students will receive this year (Arck plans to distribute them before school lets out for holiday break) are top-notch, valued around $20 apiece. They came in a variety of colors – black, grey and navy blue to name a few – and nearly every youth size imaginable, from extra small to extra large.

“I mean, look at those,” Arck said, pointing to the table in her office where she had laid out the apparel. “Those are nice pants. They’re never going to have pants like this. And they will take care of these forever.”

The boots and shoes will be given to 67 students selected by teachers, who formed a list of students who may have holes in their sneakers or no sneakers at all. The ones in Arck’s office on Tuesday were new Adidas and Columbia models, fresh out of the box.

When Arck told the school board about the donation during its meeting on Monday night, jaws dropped. It reaffirmed what Superintendent Bill Seder already knew about the community he’s called home for the past several years.

“You know, I’ve gotten to the point where I’m just not surprised at the generosity of people. It’s so refreshing to hear, but we are just so blessed. So many people step up in the most unusual ways,” Seder said.

“And a thousand dollars in sweatpants, you couldn’t even put a value to what that means to these kids. So somebody had a heart to do that and I hear about these things over and over and over, and it’s just incredibly refreshing and very humbling, quite frankly. But it happens often. I’m not surprised, but so grateful.”

Standing amid the boxes of brand new apparel on Tuesday, Arck was still in awe. She thought about the impact that this anonymous act of generosity will have on her students. She smiled ear-to-ear, knowing so many of her students will be a little warmer this winter.

She remembered how she felt last week, when she got the call.

“She just called and I was like, ‘I don’t know how you found us, but thank you,” Arck recalls. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.’”